


Super High School Level [Redacted]

by mittenmaeda



Category: Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Alternate Universe - SCP Foundation, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-17
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-08-03 17:04:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16330088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mittenmaeda/pseuds/mittenmaeda
Summary: Hinata joins the SCP foundation. He wasn't expecting one of the SCPs to be so talkative.





	1. Safe Floor

The personnel entrance to S block was a small security room. Employees returning to the building queued up for full body scanning and clearance checks. Behind the scanners and past two sets of doors, the lobby ended in several corridors, lifts, and other passageways out into the maze of the building.

One foundation guard was manning the scanner. Another was patting down the personnel ahead in the line. A digital clock above the doorway said it was nearly eight in the morning.

Hinata wished he’d gotten more sleep. He’d spent more hours than he was comfortable admitting lying on his bed the previous night, thinking about the next day and who he’d meet, and what he might see. He’d been cramming the information into his brain every night for weeks, trying desperately to remember what different alarms meant, how the locking systems worked, how the complete secrecy policies worked- he was far too aware that any slip up might result in something unpleasant happening to him.

Of course, that would likely be painful or worse, lethal- but he was more worried about embarrassing himself in front of his professional supervisors than his own health. Death would be over and done with instantly, whereas making a fool of himself would last far longer.

When someone idolized the Foundation as long as Hinata had, they lost track of when was a reasonable point to stop worrying.

It was possible, he thought, that he’d actually overthought things a little _too_ much.

It was nearing Hinata’s turn to present his ID. He put his hands into his trouser pockets and fished out his SCP Foundation key card.

HINATA, HAJIME

It had a mugshot, a barcode, the foundation’s logo in the top left and several different lines of identification, including where exactly he was allowed and where he wasn’t. Employee cared were connected up to blood type, government records- Hinata didn't even want to consider what would happen if he lost it.

Ahead of him in line were mostly other research assistants, guards and cleaners, already taking keys out of their pockets for the scanners.

A voice ahead was complaining loudly about the queue.

‘Always such a huge line. I totally get why, but man, I could write a book with the time I spend waiting…’

Hinata realised a moment late the voice was in fact, talking to him specifically. He looked up from his card.

‘Huh?’

The man stood in front of him had vibrant pink hair. That was the very first thing Hinata noticed about him. He was somewhere in his early twenties, with plugs in his ears, a beanie on his head and white research lab coat pulled on over the top of a grubby boilersuit. He was smiling at him with his unnaturally sharp teeth.

From the name-tag on the lab coat, he a researcher- a group of highly esteemed employees Hinata had been in all words but that, told would ignore him.

‘Oh, hello- are you talking to me?’

‘What? No need to look so freaked out. I’m just saying hello to the new staff. Usually we don’t have D ranks around here, so I’m curious. Name’s Kazuichi Souda.’

‘Uh, nice to meet you, Souda,’ he said, politely as he could muster. ‘I’m Hajime Hinata.’

The two shook hands.

‘Nice. You’re going to be a researcher assistant, right? Where at?’

Hinata nodded.

‘Yeah- I’m not sure I’m allowed to tell you, though.’ he admitted.

Souda snorted and pointed to his badge.

‘I’m a researcher. I guess I’m not that important, but I’m high enough rank to know what building you’ll be in, I swear. Cross my heart, hope to die.’

Hinata had to admit that this did make sense, and rubbed the back of his hair. ‘I’m going to be in the bottom half of S Block- the safe floor?’

Souda grinned in sudden recognition. ‘Oh man- you’re Nanami’s new research assistant!’

‘You know her?’

‘Oh, you’ll love her, dude! She’s super cute!’

Hinata laughed a little uncomfortably. ‘What’s she like to work with?’

‘Oh, oh, super nice. I mean, give her a kinda push if she falls asleep holding an SCP or something, but, other than that…’

Hinata frowned. ‘If she falls asleep?’

‘Well, it doesn’t happen much. Or, when it happens, nothing really goes wrong. Most of the time.’ Souda didn’t look very convinced, which worried Hinata even more.

The guard was beckoning Souda forward through the scanner. Souda pulled a vast wrench that shouldn’t have fit in any article of clothing out of pocket and put it on the tray as he went through.

‘Yeah, yeah, I’m not supposed to have this- you know me, just put it through? This once?’ He turned to wave. ‘Catch you later, Hinata. Don’t sweat it, you’ll do fine.’

‘See you?’

When his turn came, the guard didn’t even look him over twice when he scanned his card over and let him through.

The researcher waiting for him was as young as was.

She was short, with lilac bob-cut hair and sleepy eyes. Her white research lab seemed to swamp her.

‘Nanami,’ she said, as way of introduction- and held her hand out.

Hinata took a second to realise this was a handshake, and then took it a little bit clumsily.

‘So… today I’ll show you around. You’ll meet lots of people on my floor… there’s nothing that’ll really kill you if you don’t open the door… probably.’

Probably. If Hinata hadn’t been so invested in the foundation that would have made him more nervous. As it was, he thought- at least in his own mind- that he was prepared.

She led him down a grey corridor, towards a service elevator equipped with a scanner and keylock.

‘Okay. Hold your card here.’

Hinata did. She covered it up and tapped in a long number for him with the promise to write it down for him later.

‘It’s weird,’ said Hinata, smiling nervously. ‘I thought there’d be voice recognition, or guards and fingerprints.’

‘There is,’ she said. ‘This is S block’s lowest level security safe floor. Nanami smiled absently. ‘“S” for safe.’

The doors pulled open slowly, revealing a dark space with thick metal on every side.

The ride down would have been unbearably slow and anxiety inducing alone- but Nanami talked. Hinata, who’d been so on edge he was sweating, suddenly felt a lot calmer. Someone so easy-going couldn’t feel she was at risk of dying at every moment, could she?

He suddenly felt a little in awe. Researchers were so talented at what they did that it must have become second-nature to keep a calm head. Maybe that wouldn’t explain the guy he’d just met in the lobby, but maybe Souda just came off unreliable, only to become professional the minute he was working. Hinata could only speculate.

‘You’ve been given all your evaluations, right? All the blood tests and mental tests and foundation procedures?’

He answered yes.

His tests had been average. Set out in numbers on a sheet, his aversion to psychic persuasion was surprisingly high, and his self-esteem unsurprisingly low - but other than that, the rest of his results for strength, intelligence and physical ability were as average as you could get.

‘No phone on you or anything?’

Hinata shook his head. “No way! They said I’d be fired if I had a phone, because of how everything past the door is classified infor-’

‘That’s too bad. It’s sort of a long way down.’

Nanami pulled a gameboy out of her pocket and booted up a game. Hinata could only stare in horror.

 

As the lift ground to a halt on the bottom floor, the opening doors excited to reveal a long, brightly lit corridor. There was a surprising amount of researchers around- leading groups of assistants in one direction, others carrying clipboards or pushing large, dented crates that gave Hinata a deeply unsettling feeling on trolleys towards locations unknown. Exiting one room and deadlocking it behind her was a woman who waved at Nanami.

She was a smartly dressed with a short crimson bob and stern, but not unkind eyes. She had a foundation name tag on her coat, along with a camera. She seemed to be the most professional looking person Hinata had met so far.

‘This is Koizumi,’ Nanami said, gesturing in a way that spoke of energy conservation, ‘she’s a researcher too.’

She followed Nanami into a door she held open, and Hinata followed. It was almost like a small office, of a kind- if the doors of offices were usually heavily fortified. The two computers looked ancient but unusual- designed specifically for record keeping. There was a plant, but it looked sterile. On a noticeboard, different reminders and notices were pinned up in random fashion.

Almost as soon as the two of them had closed the door, there was a buzzing call from a phone attached to the wall.

Nanami picked it up. Hinata could hear how panicked the tone coming from the sound piece was from the other side of the room, yet the girl didn’t looked phased.

‘Oh. That sounds bad. Yeah- okay. I’ll be there as soon as I can.’

‘Oh, man- just when we were about to do some paperwork, too…’ Koizumi said.

‘Hinata, do you want to come see?’ Nanami said, already leaving.

Hinata floundered.

Koizumi stepped in to scold. ‘Of course he can’t, Chiaki- he’s not even seen that one’s file! He’d get turned into a… look- this isn’t your fault or anything. Okay- how about… you stay in here for a little. We’ll be back really quickly.’

The door shut.

Then, the door opened. It was Koizumi darting back in.

‘Wait, wait- there’s something you can do. Do you mind chores?’ she said. ‘I was about to do it.’ Then, before Hinata could object or deny, she handed him the tray from the desk.

On it was a plate with a couple of slices of toast, a cup of plain black tea and a pot full of a variety of cut-up fruit.

‘They’re supposed to bring SCP stuff through the door along with the rest, yada yada, but since this floor is essentially a safe lockbox full of objects when nobody’s researching, there’s no point coming all the way down with one thing like this- so they lump it on whoever’s around. I’m running late as it is- can you take it?’

Hinata tried to process what he’d just been asked and failed to make sense of any of it.

‘What do I do with this?’

‘Just take it to the room at the end of the hall, the one with the grey door and the 2804 on it, and leave it in there. Use your key card- password is three-six-seven-two. It locks automatically afterward and it's the same to get out. Chiaki showed you the SCP file, right?’

‘I- uh-’

Koizumi paused, suddenly looking a little more compassionate at how lost Hinata looked. ‘You can handle it. You’ve read it, so you know that one’s mostly harmless, okay? Press the emergency button if you get in trouble! Be back soon!’

And then she was gone, leaving Hinata entirely alone.

He knew only two things. Firstly, was that he had absolutely not read the file. Secondly, he had been given a task to do- and he was very afraid.

A deep rooted and uncomfortable chill went through him. Surely, it could wait- there’d been a misunderstanding, after all, and he could hardly be asked to do something potentially dangerous, could he? Especially not entirely alone by himself on his first day.

On the other hand, he’d be letting both Koizumi and Chiaki know that he was useless if he didn’t. She’d said it was harmless, hadn’t she? Even if he hadn’t read the file, he wouldn’t be allowed in unsupervised if it was a danger to him. Even the eccentric staff that seemed to populate the site wouldn’t be as reckless as to let the new assistant die a meaningless death.

He’d always wanted to join the foundation, and a part of him reasoned that chickening out now was a waste to every effort he’d made to join it.

He looked down at the tray and blanked. What kind of SCP had a use for fruit and tea, anyway?

Hinata was going to die. He ran a hand through his hair and sweated.

He _had_ to do it.

When he emerged from the room with his burden in hand, no other members of staff paid him much mind. He was in the building so he was obviously authorized, and they were busy with their own tasks, so he was as good as invisible.

He counted the doors, scooting down the corridor reading each one. There were several types of information on the doors- one identifying the room number in relation to the building, another with the SCP number. Some came with warnings.

Finally, he came to the room he was looking for. It was a plain grey door with the room number, and ‘2804’ on a replaceable plate. By the handle was a simple keypad with a nine digits and a hash key. There was nothing else of interest- nothing to indicate what was inside.

What was the key he’d been supposed to tap in? While balancing the tray on one hand, he racked his brains and tapped out four digits, praying equally that he’d got it right and that he’d forgotten so he’d have an excuse to leave- and miraculously, heard the door click.

He took a deep breath and pushed it open.

The sight that met him was more shocking than anything he’d been imagining.

Hinata blinked.

Where Hinata had been expecting a barren storage space, was a brightly lit, well organized room.

Several dark wood bookcases took up most of the wall space. They were filled to the edges with books of varying ages and seemingly wide variety of topics, while mysterious trinkets- some kind of painted horse, a vase of unusual shape- served as bookends or decorations. A writing desk complete with paper and assorted pens slotted into one corner, accompanied by a very basic chair and several pot plants- one of which looked unwell. None of this shocked Hinata quite as much as what was on the left side of the room. Against the wall was plain single bed with cream sheets. On it, sat reading a book, was a pale young man with straggly white hair.

The door shut automatically behind Hinata.

The man looked up from his book. He was wearing a white T-shirt and black trousers. His face was strange in that it was almost pretty, if not for the ghost-like quality of his features. There was a strange air about him, but Hinata wasn't in calm enough state to pinpoint exactly what was causing it.

Under his dishevelled hair, his eyes were a pale and piercing grey-green. They seemed unnaturally wide as they looked Hinata and his badge over.

‘You’re new, right?’ he said. ‘I don’t think I’ve seen you before.’

He had a soft, breathy voice.

‘I- uh.’ Hinata tried valiantly to reel himself in. ‘Yeah. Are you-?’

‘Hmm,’ the man pondered. ‘Were all the researchers busy? I guess I shouldn’t be disappointed.’

Hinata could feel his pulse overtaking him. ‘Uh- excuse me?’

The man laughed a breathless, carefree sort of laugh. ‘It isn’t your fault that they left me to you. It’s not that I think I’m worth sparing more than D rank personnel. I’m a useless safe-class SCP, after all.’

Hinata, in his bewilderment, had been clinging to the idea that he’d opened the wrong door. He realised with sinking fear that he’d not made a mistake. Harmless, he told his pounding heart. She said what was in the room was mostly harmless- but he’d been expecting a cup, or a doll, or a box, not a - real life, living _person_.

He entered a mental battle to stop himself freezing up. On surface, it went better than he hoped.

‘You’re an SCP?’

The man laughed again, and this time Hinata got the distinct feeling that it was at him.

‘What else would I be? I hope I've not made you uncomfortable by talking too much- I’m often told I talk too much. You don't have to be too worried, though- there’s nothing in here that can fall on you or fatally wound you or anything. Honest.’

Hinata looked visibly lost. 'Fall on me?’

'Well, you know. You've read my file.’

'Wait a minute. Are you messing with me? Wasn't this floor supposed to be all safe class- objects?’

The carefree expression on the man's face became more judgemental by just an increment. 'Two-eight-oh-four,’ introductory, ‘The Unlucky Man. Safe class. Nice to meet you. You really didn't even read my file?’

'Well, no, but-’

‘I'm a bit disappointed- the foundation works really hard to make those and you're putting everyone at risk by being negligent.’

'Hey! I- I was sent me in here and told to leave this. Aren't you being kind of harsh?’

2804 put his hands up and laughed bashfully. 'Hey, don’t be upset. I was just telling you that you should probably follow the rules- there’s a lot of worse things than me in here, you know?'

Hinata’s brain blanked. What came to mind, through the sheer mental connection that this was a person talking to him, was to introduce himself back, as politely as he could. 'I’m Hinata Hajime. Nice to meet you- I’m sorry for not reading the file. Shall I just leave this here?’

‘Anywhere’s fine.’

Hinata put the tray down and made for the door, glancing to make sure the man wasn't going to follow him.

Hinata tried the pin once, then frowned deeply when it wouldn’t budge. Had he forgotten it? He tried again. Panic rose. What if he was stuck in the room for hours before anyone came to find him with a potentially dangerous person?

‘Try using the key card at the same time,’ said 2804, helpfully. ‘The six is sticky.’

Hinata finally heard the click of the door unlocking. ‘Thank you.’

‘Don’t mention it.’


	2. SCP-2804- The Unlucky Man

**Item #:** SCP-2804- The Unlucky Man

 **Object Class:** Safe

 **Special Containment Procedures:** SCP-2804 is to be contained in an area no less than 4 m x 5 m (13 ft x 16 ft). Any books, writing materials, clothing or other items are to be provided when requested, providing each object is subject to mandatory safety review. Shelving units and other freestanding furniture must be risk assessed prior to installation. Proper bedding and bathroom facilities are to be maintained at all times. Ongoing medical care should be provided as necessary. Meals should be provided three (3) times daily. Water should be readily available.

No weapons, electronic devices, sharp objects or easily broken objects (ex: mirrors, glass cups, etc.) are allowed within SCP-2804’s containment area.

While contact with potential dangerous items or locations should be kept to a strict minimum, SCP-2804 is generally compliant with staff, and standard handcuffs should suffice should transport to another building or floor be necessary. Sedation has little to no effect on the probability of SCP-2804’s effects occurring. 

 **Description:** SCP-2804 is a young human male of slightly above average height, aged approximately twenty-two years old with pale grey eyes and white hair. SCP-2804 is currently being treated for third stage lymphoma and frontotemporal dementia.

SCP-2804 is afflicted with severe bad luck of which it has no conscious control over. This effect causes incidents made up of extremely statistically unlikely and often destructive events. [See addendum, incidents 1A-23J]. The presence of SCP-2804 triggers these low-probability events randomly, with no perceptible pattern in either time frame or severity of the event. Events triggered by the presence of SCP-2804 can be widespread and catastrophic enough to cause mass injury to civilians. It is notable that despite facing multiple incidents with high numbers of casualties, SCP-2804 itself has not yet been severely injured.

Both origin and cause of the phenomena are currently unknown.

SCP-2804 was removed from official government records in year [Redacted], following the occurrence of several high casualty incidents considered to be a direct result of SCP-2804’s effects.

SCP-2804 is fully aware of these effects and has agreed to cooperate fully with containment procedures.

 

**Addendum 1.1:**

Following incident 20A, safety pins must be removed prior to entering containment area. It has been suggested that any food brought to SCP-2804 should be lukewarm or cool to prevent further risks of burn to staff and SCP-2804. Idea rejected after SCP-2804 expressed dissatisfaction and requested staff continue with previous routine.

 

**Addendum 1.2:**

Following incident 21A caused by lightning and subsequent flooding of 2804’s containment room and corridor 3A-G, SCP-2804 has been relocated to current underground location at [REDACTED].

 

**Addendum 3.03:**

The following interview was conducted by Makoto Naegi during the initial investigation.

 

[BEGIN LOG]

Naegi: I know your situation has been fully explained to you by now, but just to have this for the file, we’re going to be recording you. You don’t have any problem with that, do you?

SCP-2804: It’s a bit embarrassing to be on tape- nobody has ever wanted to listen to me talk before! I’m honoured to have my very own file- so I'll talk about anything you want me to. (SCP-2804 laughs.)

Naegi: Take as long as you like to answer. This is an unusual situation for me too, because normally you can't talk to SCPs like this.

SCP-2804: I'm grateful that you took the time to come talk to someone like me at all. 

Naegi: I’m glad you're being optimistic.

SCP-2804: I’m a bit of a pessimist, really. It’s a bad habit of mine, but I can’t help but feel things might be looking up for me, once you find somewhere to lock me up and throw away the key...

Naegi: Well, I wouldn't call it throwing away the key... Unfortunately, even though I don't want to say this, you understand that once you’re contained, there isn’t a possibility of you returning to a normal life- don’t you?

SCP-2804: Of course. I’m so grateful to you and the foundation for taking in trash like me.

Naegi: You're not trash- you're just unlucky, and that's not really your fault. Again, I've got to say this to make sure you know that when your government records- birth, death, medical history- stop existing, you will fundamentally-

SCP-2804: (Talking over.) Cease to exist?

Naegi: (pauses.) Yes. It’ll be a bit like you never existed.

SCP-2804: I understand. I have a question for you too, if it's not too much to ask of you. If you don't want to humour me, just tell me to shut up and I'll be quiet.

Naegi: No, no go right ahead. You've got every right to ask me a question.

SCP-2804: Do you think you're lucky?

Naegi: Hm? Well... not really. Why?

(SCP-2804 laughs.)

SCP-2804: It's nothing. I wouldn't dare suggest such an important organisation wouldn't have the capabilities to deal with someone as lowly as me, especially not with someone as wonderful as you helping run it... I even said no when you said you wanted to contain me because I was sure you had better things to do- it's just... I'm awfully unlucky. Something really terrible might happen to all of you if you aren't lucky enough to counter how bad an omen I am.

Naegi: I think we can make it. Even if it's not easy.

SCP-2804: I’ll try not to be useless, then. I hope I don't cause you too much trouble.

[END LOG]

  



	3. Gentle Exercise

Hinata's hopes for a peaceful half hour of lunch were dashed when he ran into Souda in the cafeteria.

‘So?’ the researcher asked with a grin, ‘how’d it go?’

In a way it was relieving to see a familiar face, even if he'd known the face for a grand total of five minutes.

‘It was okay. You want to sit? I don't know anyone, so…’ He gestured to the empty table.

Nanami worked through lunch, and the other people emerging from his floor weren't people he knew. They didn't seem interested in talking to him; they probably had far more on their minds than greeting the new assistant, which Hinata decided he was going to have to be fine with.

‘Sure, I’ll keep you company.’ Souda pulled out a chair as he put down his food: cola, some kind of sweets and a pudding. Hinata realised with horror that there wasn't anything even remotely resembling vegetables or fresh food.

‘I’ve had such a cool day, so far,’ Souda began. ‘I shouldn’t tell you, but man, you’d have loved it.’

Hinata wasn’t sure what Souda counted as a cool day, but he suspected he probably _wouldn’t_ have loved it.

Unperturbed by Hinata’s lack of response, Souda went on. ‘First, Miss Sonia came to see me- well, she was going to do work down the corridor, but she _basically_ talked to me when she asked me to move- and then I got to test the new machine.’

'Uh, that’s nice,’ was all Hinata could think of saying. ‘What’s the new machine?’

'I'm totally not allowed to tell you about that one, my bad.’

 _Then why start telling me at all?_ Hinata thought.

‘It’s so cool though, you wouldn't believe it- it's got this gear, and this thing where if you get within ten metres of it, all the pulleys and this one cog start to go _vroom_ … and then, anything you throw at it turns to liquid sil-‘

His eyes seemed to be almost physically sparkling until he clapped his mouth shut and pulled his hat down over his eyes. 'Oh my god, I'm gonna be in so much trouble- I totally wasn't supposed to tell you that.’

Fear rose in Hinata’s easily concerned mind.

'Huh? If I get told classified information, what’s going to happen? Will I get fired!?’

‘Well, probably not! I mean, maybe I’d get sort of slapped on the wrist...’ Souda leaned in casually, then glanced left and right. ‘Worst comes to worst, you’ll get a memory wipe. If you get too messed up by an SCP or see the wrong thing you get your memory wiped.’

‘Hey! What the hell? I don’t want that!’

‘Shhh! Don’t yell, I don’t want to be in trouble either!’

‘Then why did you tell me?’

‘Shhh, play it cool, play it cool.’ Souda gave the most forced thumbs up Hinata had ever seen in his life. ‘How was your day?’

Hinata was steeled and knew exactly how to counter the question. ‘I can’t tell you.’

‘Oh, go on- nothing bad will happen! I’ve got higher clearance than you, so nothing you saw will be something I’m not allowed to go stare at anyway. I mean… if you really don’t want to…’

Hinata couldn’t believe Souda was supposed to be a professional. He didn’t hate him in the slightest, but he seemed to treat legally classified files as an equivalent to playground secrets. He also seemed to lack… tact. Hinata wouldn’t have admitted it out loud, but coming from him, someone who was aware of being notoriously dense at times, this was saying a lot.

Hinata glanced around, still partially convinced that it could be a test of some kind and that there would be someone ready to leap out and arrest him.

‘Okay. Lemme guess then. You were with Nanami, so you did her spreadsheets, organized her files-’ Souda was right so far, ‘saw the cursed gameboy, cause she shows everyone that one…’

‘Okay, okay. I organized the files and saw,’ he leaned in, ‘2804.’

‘Oh!’ said Souda. All his emotions seem to play exactly as he experienced them, directly onto his face. It was refreshing but tiring- Hinata was quickly learning to just agree and hold on to his seat. ‘You had to go see Komaeda? On your first day? That’s rough.’

Before Hinata could answer, Souda called out to someone he’d spotted on the other side of the hall. ‘Oi- Kuzuryu! Don’t sit by yourself again, dude- come here.’

A short man with cropped blonde hair scowled as he came over. ‘As if I want to spend time with you.’

‘No need to be so prickly- you haven’t even met Hinata yet, jeez.’

Despite his protests, the blonde man sat down. His most noticeable aspect was how young he looked- freckles and large gold eyes gave him the baby-faced appearance of someone who shouldn’t be working in a role that required him to wear a suit. Hinata could tell from his voice alone that he wasn’t a teenager, but he did look like one- despite his apparently permanent scowl.

‘Hinata, this is Kuzuryu, vice versa.’

Hinata introduced himself on command, and Kuzuryu did the same, albeit less politely.

Souda turned to him and laughed. ‘This guy’s new and they already made him go bring Komaeda lunch. I bet Koizumi was excited to pawn that job off.’

Kuzuryu’s intimidating demeanour briefly broke. ‘I’d pawn it off on an assistant too.’

Hinata was still trying to turn it over in his head- had Souda said Komaeda? He’d finally read the file when he got back, courtesy of some backhanded apologising from Koizumi for inadvertently sending him in blind, and there wasn’t anything like a real name in it.

‘I didn’t know he had a name. I thought he was just called 2804.’

Souda looked at him as if he were stupid. ‘Well, of course he has a name- he was out there in the real world once. That guy gives me the creeps.’

Kuzuryu crossed his arms and leant back. ‘He’s kind of a freak, but what do you expect in this place? That long in a box would make anyone a bit crazy.’

Hinata was baffled that the two researchers' talking point about 2804 wasn’t that he was a completely flesh-and-blood human within what was essentially a comfortable prison cell, or even that according to the file the mere presence of him was allegedly a risk to human life- but that he was weird.

‘Is he really that bad?’ Hinata heard himself asking. ‘He seemed… okay.’

_For a person labelled officially as a dangerous object._

The pair exchanged a look.

Souda scratched the back of his neck. ‘Give it time. Trust me on this one.’

 

 

Hinata was stood at the downward headed elevator, armed with his key card, a memory of the password and a few minutes to spare.

When he glanced up from his wait for the door to open, he realised there was someone waving to him from the corridor as he approached. He was short, with brown hair and green eyes not dissimilar to his own.

‘Oh- hey, Mr Naegi,’ he said with surprise. He hadn’t been expecting someone from management to approach him; especially not the person who’d interviewed him.

Naegi smiled at him. ‘Hi, Hinata. How are you finding everything?’

Naegi gave Hinata a good feeling. He seemed reliable, trustworthy, and for the high up position he was in, didn’t feel condescending at all. He looked at Hinata with an interest that couldn’t possibly have been false.

‘Good, I think? I’ve met some interesting people.’

‘That’s great! I bet Nanami is really happy to have an assistant. I was just on my way up, so I shouldn’t stick around too long, but I saw you and just wanted to check you were-’

Before Naegi could finish, there was a blast of high pitched sound. It was so loud Hinata instinctively covered his ears and flinched. The whole corridor rung with an alarm’s wail, a box on the wall flashing a repetitive red.

The corridor filled with sudden and spontaneous activity, movement and sound; staff filtered out of rooms, some confused, others talking hurriedly on handheld radios. A member of staff picked up one of the inbuilt phones, then, seeing Naegi, dashed over and began to explain.

Hinata didn’t catch all of it over the sound- something about Euclid's, and a SCP number- and evacuation. Naegi then picked up a buzzer in his own pocket and answered that too- something about going downstairs.

Nerves rose in Hinata like a flood- was he in danger? Was he supposed to be leaving? Hinata had been mentally attempting to psyche himself for an inevitable alarm- he just hadn’t expected it to happen on his first day, and he suddenly felt far less prepared than he thought he’d been.

Naegi thanked the staff member and turned to Hinata. ‘Okay, this isn’t a practise. There’s been a breach downstairs. This floor is fine, but everyone either side of floor minus three is going to be evacuated.’

‘A breach, as in- as in something has escaped?’

From the stairs at the end of the corridor, a stream of staff were already beginning to ascend. It struck Hinata that while they moved quickly, only a handful of them seemed genuinely fearful- it was a strategic retreat, but not a panicked one.

‘Yeah. Sounds kind of worse than it is, though- this object… well…. I trust its caretaker to deal with it. You should go to the meeting point outside and wait there- there’s something I’ve got to do on the safe floor before I can go.’

‘I’ll stay!’ Hinata blurted- ‘Please- I’m sure I can help you with something.’

In the moments after he’d spoken, Hinata didn’t know what had overtaken him; it was as if he had forgotten that he was a nervous assistant, and it was his first day- all he knew was that he was sure he could help, and that staying up in the safe area felt like the worst thing he could do. The brazenness of the thought caught up with him only after his mouth had run.

The apology to Naegi for being so impulsive was on the tip of his tongue when Naegi replied.

‘Okay- if you’re sure.’ He keyed in the elevator and nodded to Hinata. ‘Let’s go.’

After a moment of confused hesitation, Hinata nodded back.

 

 

Nanami raced from the room when the elevator opened. ‘Mr Naegi- and Hinata.’ A look of confusion crossed her, but she continued without questioning Hinata’s presence. ‘There’s a three-floor lockdown happening right now, because of the containment breach upstairs- I don’t wanna make you nervous or anything, Hinata, but all of safe floor has to evacuate.’

Naegi nodded at her, then smiled at Hinata. ‘This isn’t unusual- let’s just think positively and get this done.’

Hinata didn’t know how the two of them were staying so calm when whatever had broken containment upstairs was evidently dangerous enough to warrant the surrounding floors be completely evacuated.

There was a moment of unspoken communication before Naegi began to head down a corridor away from the stairs, followed automatically by Nanami.

‘Protocol says we don’t bring SCPs in breaches-’ Naegi explained over his shoulder to Hinata, ‘but I don’t think it’s right to leave him there. He’s a person, after all.’

Hinata followed them down the corridor, willing the exercise he’d done not to let him down. _Surely, they couldn’t mean..._

Hinata hadn’t in the whole morning seen Nanami move so fast as she did opening the office-room, grabbing something from within a cupboard with expert precision- handcuffs?- and heading back out.

Hinata was in front now, aware of exactly where they were headed.

‘Every containment room is under lockdown too, in case it was a purposeful breach to steal something- or in case something else could get out and make it twice as bad.’ Nanami said. ‘Unlikely, I know, but only high ranking personnel can open things right now. Hinata- where are you going?’

Some kind of instinct had kicked in as he reached the door, and Hinata already had his card held out to the scanner and was tapping in the code as if he’d done it a thousand times before.

‘What’s going on?’ said 2804, as the door swung open. Then, suddenly brightening up as Naegi stepped into view- ‘Oh, wow! Naegi, coming all the way down to see a lowly piece of trash like me? I’m so honoured!’

Naegi might have responded if he weren’t staring at Hinata, visibly caught off guard. It was slightly quieter within the containment cell, given there was no alarm within the room itself.

‘That’s strange.’ Naegi said. He stayed still for half a moment, looking between Hinata and his key card. ‘You shouldn’t be able to open that door.’

‘I- I shouldn’t?’

‘No.’ He wiped the worry from his expression in place of professional resolve. ‘Don’t worry- it’s probably just a mistake with the authorization on the card. I’ll talk to someone about getting it fixed later. Let’s be quick.’

2804 watched Nanami approach with the cuffs. ‘Where are we going, if it isn’t too much bother to ask?’

‘There’s been another breach upstairs, so we’re evacuating. Komaeda, could you put your shoes on then put your hands behind your back?’

2804 obediently pulled on a pair of brown boots from under the bed and held still as she clicked the cuffs into place.  He was slightly taller than Hinata thought he was, though some of it might have been the unruly amount of pale hair.

‘Escorting a useless object like me is more than I deserve… you’re such kind people to even think about taking me with you.’

‘No, it’s fine.’ Naegi interjected- ‘Leaving a person behind would be wrong.’

The SCP smiled. ‘Even in the face of my horrendous luck, you’re willing to assist me and think of me as a real person- I’d expect such compassion from someone as wonderful as you! It fills me with such hope, I’m so happy I might cry!’

Hinata was quickly beginning to see what Souda and Kuzuryu had meant.

A call from the radio at Naegi’s waist had him at the doorway. ‘Okay. I’ll be right there- yes, I’ve done it. Komaeda, Nanami, Hinata- I’m needed upstairs, you can handle things for now, right?’

‘Yeah.’ Nanami said. ‘We’ll go.’

And with that, Naegi wished them luck and disappeared into the vast maze of the foundation corridors.

 

Nanami walked out behind the SCP, one hand on 2804’s arm behind his back to guide him in the right direction.

The good mood that’d struck 2804 on the sight of Naegi seemed to be waning after they reached the corridor, and with it the full volume of the alarm.

‘Ah,’ he sighed out, ‘it’s so loud.’

‘I know, Komaeda,’ said Nanami. ‘Nobody here can turn it off- you’ll just have to do your best to ignore it… mmhm.’

‘Oh, no, - I wasn’t complaining at all. If this is all for the sake of a good cause, I’m perfectly happy to take whatever horrible conditions are inflicted on me.’

The corridor was almost completely empty. While most of the few straggling researchers were too busy evacuating themselves to look around, there were a few glances towards 2804, prompting a far hastier retreat.

There was something crashing from the ceiling above; some indescribable sound like roaring and fire- the very building seemed to be shaking as if something huge was knocking down walls.

‘Nanami,’ Hinata said, trying to keep his voice sounding cool and unaffected. ‘Do you know _what_ has escaped?’

‘Don’t worry, Hinata. Knowing upstairs… we’re in good hands. Let’s just keep going.’

Hinata realised with awe that he had misjudged Nanami completely. What he’d taken for sleepiness wasn’t laziness- there was a fixed determination to her seemingly listless demeanour, and she was completely calm under the pressure. Her calm mood seemed to quell his own rising anxiety; when she said they were in good hands, he found himself completely believing in her and calming too.

‘We’ll take the stairs,’ she said, looking to the ceiling. ‘I think the elevator is too risky now. That’s not your fault, Komaeda- it’s just that it might get in- or the lift might drop.’

‘You don’t have to spare my feelings, haha. I know I’m a pretty bad omen.’

Nanami nudged 2804 onwards towards the end of the corridor past the elevator doors without replying.

Through the doors, the clinical, brightly lit flights of stairs seemed to stretch up and up. They started on them slowly as to not trip their prisoner, Nanami occasionally glancing upwards and Hinata steadying his own panic with each shake from the ceiling.

‘Nanami, is this normal?’

She shook her head and yawned. ‘Not really. I mean, this SCP can sort of… warp. Or bend reality a bit, might be a better term- so I guess I wouldn’t say anything about this is normal. But it does escape sometimes.’

How on earth she could say something like with such a sleepy looking expression, Hinata could only guess.

Amidst the alarms, Hinata could hear the slight strain to 2804’s breathing as they ascended. He didn’t think anyone would get much exercise confined to a single room, and climbing so many flights of stairs seemed taxing on him.

‘It isn’t so far now,’ Nanami said.

Hinata didn’t know if the encouragement was for him or 2804.

As the three came to the next stairwell, there was a sudden and solid divide. Nothing but darkness stretched ahead. Light seeped in from above and below, but for a single few flights, the overhead lights were completely off. The noise they’d been hearing sporadically was also suddenly quiet- as if whatever it was had gone away.

2804 caught his breath as Nanami paused the group, looking upwards into the dark.

‘Power must gone out on the floor. Hinata, could you hold Komaeda for a minute? I want to check the stairwell to see if it’s safe.’

He lifted her hand off his arm to gesture Hinata forward.

‘Hold him?’ Hinata stuttered.

2804 turned around and looked him in the eyes. ‘Are you sure you’re qualified to do that?’

Hinata tensed.

‘Be kind, Komaeda.’ Nanami said, without turning back. ‘Being mean to him won’t get us anywhere faster.’

‘Oh. Was I being rude?’ his tone was concerned. ‘I was only joking. I’m very sorry if I hurt your feelings, Hinata-kun.’

‘Um- that’s okay.’ He took the SCP by his arm, gingerly enclosing his fingers around the soft shirt fabric. Somehow, Hinata hadn’t expected him to feel warm like a human. It was a stupid thing to be surprised by, but he’d expected him to be cold, or even completely room temperature.

‘You’re a worrier, aren’t you, Hinata-kun?’ 2804 said cheerily. ‘Well, don’t worry- you must be pretty amazing to have a job here, even if you’re an assistant. I’m glad to be here- so anywhere you tell me to go, I’ll go.’

Hinata, who had so far been torn about how he should address 2804- as a person, or as detached and professionally as he could- found himself whispering without thinking. ‘How are you so carefree about this? There’s- there’s something that could kill us up there and you’re just smiling!’

‘Well, we can’t make it go away, you know? There’s no point worrying about it when it already escaped.’

Hinata wasn’t sure he _was_ qualified to deal with the person he’d been entrusted.

Nanami crept ahead on the stairs. As she reached the top of the flight, there was an almighty crash and sound like a tornado howling through the corridor.

The outline of a double set of doors blasted open with force, clanging against the wall.

‘Withdraw, mortals!’ a voice boomed. In the dim light from the stairwells above, Hinata could clearly make out the figure who backed out of them.

The man was unlike anything Hinata had ever seen; a vast crimson scarf rippled in the air as he held his hands out wide. A dark scar ran over one eye, his hair multi-toned like a lightning bolt.

‘I, the Dark Overlord of Ice, will hold back the dark beasts!’ He glanced over his shoulder to Nanami. ‘Quickly, if you value your pathetic human souls, flee this place!’

Nanami ran back down the stairs and took Komaeda. ‘Thank you Gundham!’

Hinata raced after her, but couldn’t stop himself turning to stare into the dark past the man.

At the moment of them passing the door itself, Hinata saw several pairs of bright white eyes in the dark. The shock froze him to the spot. He couldn’t force his eyes away or his legs to move him. Something crashed- a dark blur shot towards them.

Hinata felt Komaeda’s hand grab his wrist from in front of him and yank him from his stupor, forcing him to stumble forward over the steps.

Something careered through the air, grazing past his back, so close and violently fast he felt the air move.

When he turned, eyes wide, he saw sharp metal piercing the wall mere centimetres from where his head had been and 2804’s surprised face inches from his own.

There was no time to say anything.

‘Hinata! Komaeda! Let’s go!’

There was a sound like an explosion as the three bolted quickly up the stairs, and the voice from below boomed- ‘Mirage Golden Hawk, Supernova Silver Fox, return to the dwellings of whence you came!’

With the immediate danger behind them, the three fled up the rest of the stairwell.

 

 

While Nanami left to find out if they had the okay to return to the safe floor, Hinata was given the duty of guarding the emergency safe room. It wasn’t much of a job, and the guarding was taking place in the absolute loosest sense of the term; he took up a chair by the table, while 2804, freed from the cuffs, had rubbed his wrists and quietly sat down on the bench on the other side of the room.

While a part of him was taking the situation seriously, he doubted the SCP in question was going to get up, let alone attempt to make a break for it.

Hinata looked over to where 2804 was sat, curled up with his back rested against the wall.

Before he had a chance to focus on something else, 2804 looked up, and he couldn’t suddenly look away without it appearing unnatural and weird.

‘Are you okay?’ the SCP asked. ‘You look a little bit worried.’

‘Oh, me? I’m fine.’ He paused, momentarily unsure and searching for the right words. The ones that sounded as if he was about to start a conversation, and not that he’d just been staring out of sheer, rude curiosity. ‘I was just thinking, is all. I wanted to say that you probably saved my life on the stairs. I would have been hit if you didn’t grab me- so I guess I owe you a big thank you.’

2804 smiled more genuinely than Hinata was expecting, raising his hands in a kind of mild surrender. ‘You’re giving me way too much credit- I didn’t really do anything.’

2804 seemed more relaxed than he had been. It caught Hinata off guard, and he found himself cautiously returning the smile.

‘Do you want to sit here?’ Hinata asked. He looked at the chair opposite his but hesitated. ‘I mean, Nanami isn’t back- we’ll probably be in here for a while, and that bench doesn’t look very comfortable.’

‘I don’t know why you’d want to risk sitting near someone like me… but I’m happy to come over, if you’re sure you want me to.’

‘Yeah, I’m sure.’

Hinata would have been lying if he said he didn’t feel a slight wave of apprehension at the living bad luck omen coming to sit by him, but he reminded himself that despite the man’s strange exterior, he’d definitely done him a favour- and a pretty significant one at that.

2804 paused with his hand on the chair, as if waiting to see if Hinata would change his mind before pulling it out and sitting down. He smiled self-effacingly.

‘I’m actually pretty grateful that you’d be nice enough to let me sit with you. Sorry, is that kind of lame?’

‘You’re kind of harsh on yourself, huh?’

‘I’m worthless garbage. It's only natural I'd know my place.’

Hinata found it unnerving to talk to someone who demeaned themselves so severely but with such casual and cheerful conviction.

‘You shouldn’t be so sure you’re garbage… I mean, you definitely did stop me dying.’ His tone became faintly joking in the hopes of lightening the mood. ‘I basically owe you my life.’

‘Well, it was probably my bad luck that got us in trouble in the first place, so we’re even.’

Hinata couldn’t say if he was right or wrong about it all being his luck’s fault, but the smile did tip him off to the fact 2804 might have been joking. Or not.

‘Well, it could have hit you instead- you still risked yourself, right? It’d have really sucked if I had to go to hospital on my first day.’

‘Well, when you put it like that… it’d be a shame to miss the rest of the week, right? Lots of good luck might happen to you to make up for a first day like this.’

Hinata didn’t follow the logic, but he could tell from the cheery expression on the other’s face that he sincerely meant it.

‘Well, I guess.’ he laughed flatly. ‘And I was supposed to be helping Nanami with stuff tomorrow, so I can’t be off sick. I’m already scared I’ll catch a cold with all the snow.’

Komaeda’s eyebrows raised in surprise. ‘There’s snow outside?’

‘Yeah, it started last… oh! I’m sorry - damn, I’m an idiot – I’m sorry, I guess you wouldn’t know-‘

Komaeda laughed. ‘Hey, don’t worry. I don’t really get out much, you know?’

The words took a little to sink in, but when they did, Hinata began to laugh under his breath too.

Hinata realised for the first time that he felt more at ease than he’d been all day. He’d not even noticed it happening, but after talking to the SCP properly, he didn’t know why he’d been so on edge. There was something undeniably worrying about the way he spoke, but there was also something care-free in the way he carried on through

A newfound determination to introduce himself while the mood was so light filled him.

‘You know, it doesn’t really feel right to call you 2804 – you already know my name, and I heard Nanami was saying your proper name, earlier- so I was wondering if I should call you that?’

‘I suppose I didn’t introduce myself. I’m Nagito Komaeda,’ he held out his hand, ‘but if you want to call me by my SCP number like the useless object I am, that’s absolutely fine.’

Hinata laughed nervously and shook it. ‘You know, I think I prefer Komaeda.’

 

 

 

 

‘Hey, Nanami- when I clock out, do you want to come too?’

‘That’s okay, Hinata- you go. I’ll be here a bit longer… I’ve got to fill in the paperwork anyway.’

'You've not got much more to do, right?'

‘Just finishing up these files. Then I'll lock up and say goodnight to Komaeda.’

There was a moment of quiet.

‘Do you do that every night?'

‘Well… I do if I’m here late. I’d feel bad if nobody did it. And he’s had a busy day- he’d probably tired.’

 


End file.
